109. Transform Your Finances & Grow a 5-Figure Investment Portfolio ft Laura Ann Moore and Kevin Cahill (LIVE From P2P Dec Event)

Kickstart your journey to financial empowerment with this special live episode from our "New Year, Wealthier You" event, hosted at the iconic Samsung KX building in London. Our esteemed panellists, financial well-being speaker Laura Ann Moore and wealth and investment coach Kevin Cahill discuss money mindset, smart budgeting, and effective money management. 

Have you ever wondered how early financial beliefs shape your money habits? Laura Ann Moore dives into the emotional side of money, revealing how ingrained beliefs can make or break your financial confidence. Meanwhile, Kevin Cahill shares his expertise on practical investment strategies to help you diversify and grow your wealth. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Financial Mindset and Money Management
• 10:30 Intentional Spending and Financial Mindset
• 15:21 Healthy Financial Habits and Mindset
• 24:32 Navigating Debts and Building Wealth
• 33:18 Financial Mindset and Investing Journey

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Penny Spouts podcast with your host, kia, and this is a podcast where you aim to dispel your myths, simplify difficult financial jargon and rectify your own personal problems. Happy Monday, everyone. I hope you're having a good start to your week and, as always, I've got another amazing episode for you. However, this one is coming live and direct from our event back in December 2023. Now, this is called New Year, wealthier you, and it was an incredible event hosted in the Samson KX building in London, with some incredible, incredible panellists. But your episode in particular is all about financial mindset getting into that right mindset to manage your money well, budget well and just understand your motivations and triggers behind spending. So, without further ado, I'm going to let you get into our episode.

Speaker 2: 0:46

Tonight we have some amazing panellists who are going to be sharing wisdom, who are going to be sharing knowledge, and I just want all of you to really soak it up. I really want to get stuck into our first panel, so I'm going to invite up here Kevin Cahill and Laura Ann Moore, who are going to also introduce themselves when they come up. Thank you, kevin Cahill and Laura Ann Moore, who are going to also introduce themselves when they come up. Thank you, hi guys. How are you good? How are you good?

Speaker 2: 1:13

good nice evening, so I want to get stuck in, but first of all I just want to you guys, give you a moment to introduce yourselves, what you do, and we'll get straight into our conversation. Ladies, ladies, first, Hello everybody.

Speaker 3: 1:25

So my name is Laura Ann Moore and I am a financial well-being speaker, slash educator, and I have a podcast as well. I'm on literally every social media platform just to make my life more difficult, and my entire thing is about helping people to get financially confident and build wealth and actually feel good about money. So it's all about, like, the emotional side of having a good relationship with money.

Speaker 4: 1:48

My name is Kevin. I'm a wealth and investment coach, so I work one-to-one generally with people and help them either improve their finances overall or help them diversify and build investment portfolios, with the aim basically of retiring early.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Thank you both. So the topic of this panel now is budgeting, money management and financial mindset. So I think I want to come to you, laura, first, and just talk about that kind of mindset around money. How can we get to a place where we have a positive mindset around money, and successful one? Because I feel like as we grow up, some of us may not have been around in environments where money is kind of spoken about in a positive way. So how do we get a healthy mindset around money?

Speaker 3: 2:36

so the one thing that I say is a lot of people just assume that money is like about numbers and spreadsheets and the practical side. But actually we make all of our decisions about money from a place of emotion and we learn that through the beliefs that we pick up and inherit from a really young age. So, depending on like what situation you were in when you were younger, like I always say, like who heard the phrase money doesn't grow on trees? Yeah, and that's the kind of thing that you take on and then it starts to manifest in a different way when you're older. So to start to have a positive mindset and to change your mindset, you need to first off become aware of what your mindset actually is. So I always say you can't fix a problem or solve something if you don't actually know what's going on.

Speaker 3: 3:18

So, like acknowledging how do I talk about money, how does money make me feel, what are some things or phrases that I remember my parents saying or my guardians when I was younger, because that's going to have a direct impact on how you behave with money now.

Speaker 3: 3:31

So once you've become aware of it, then you can do something about it, and there's so many different things that you can do, but some of them is around, you know, changing your language, really understanding what you're talking about, the words that you say when you talk about money, and believing that you can change. So the one thing that I say is because your money mindset it's usually formed by the age of seven and it's like we didn't have control over what was happening to us when we were like zero to seven. But our brains have something called neuropathicity, which basically means that they can change at any point. But it all comes down to repetition. So, acknowledging how you think and feel about money how would you like to think and feel about money and then putting different steps in place around changing your language and changing how you view yourself when it comes to money.

Speaker 2: 4:17

So this idea of how you kind of view yourself when it comes to money, Kevin, I want to ask you, does that play into kind of building a successful financial roadmap to where we can fulfill our financial goals and dreams?

Speaker 4: 4:34

Absolutely so. Like Laura said, you could have all the spreadsheets and everything else that you want in the world. But if you in your head see yourself as a broke person or someone who struggles to save money, it's really difficult to get out of that place. If that's how you kind of see yourself already. Um, and I think again, as she said, like repetition is key and starting to kind of build different habits. It's for most people. I just think if you keep it as simple as possible and as easy as possible throughout the whole financial journey that you have, you're way more likely to stick with it. There's no point trying to get from like, oh, I struggle to save money, I've never had money to, I'm a millionaire, I drive Lamborghinis all the time. You know there's steps that start that you can start with. That'll get you to that place eventually. But it starts with forming that mindset to begin with.

Speaker 2: 5:27

I think In terms of that roadmap to achieving financial goals. How does a person begin that journey? Is it writing down a plan? What steps are there that people can take to have a successful financial roadmap?

Speaker 4: 5:46

It's a good question. I mean, as I said, like the starting out is key. So what I generally do with 90% of my clients is I'll take them through a process of identifying their high level financial and just general goals and dreams for their life. So what they want to achieve and I think if I asked most people here they'd have some some idea of something they want to earn property, they want to own property or they want to have you know, all these flashy things.

Speaker 4: 6:18

But it's breaking those down into from that higher level goal into results driven tasks. So when you have it as a simple task for that month to achieve, that will ultimately reach that goal and that can influence, like your daily habits then as well. So it's that goals and financial planning is kind of where I start with everyone, because if you're trying to achieve something but you're not taking actionable steps to get there, it's never going to happen. So it's generally I start with the goals of financial planning and then try and feed that into a budget that actually makes sense for people. Hopefully that answers.

Speaker 2: 6:56

Yeah, that's such a good answer because I want to get into maybe going back a bit into the feeling as well. So, this financial budget we have and you've just mentioned mentioned you know, sometimes you want to buy nice things and stuff like that. And it's like that's a habit because I know myself, once I get maybe like a little lump sum of money, I'm like do you know what I've earned this? Let me go treat myself to this, this, this, this, but it could end up hindering a financial goal of mine. So, laura, do you have any tips or tricks into how can you break down your relationship money to make sure that your spending habits are actually being done in a positive way and not just, you know, having the habit of, oh, I've got this amount of money I'm going to buy myself and just having a bit of constraint and obedience around money?

Speaker 3: 7:49

Yeah. So I would say the way that it kind of works with the emotion that you end up feeling is if you have a thought or you say something out loud, that word or that phrase or that's what creates a feeling in your body and the feeling is what drives your behavior. So if you keep doing that behavior over and again, because you're saying the same things to yourself, that, like that is your reality. So utilizing words and like visual imagery is there to like change your emotional state. So has anybody ever here like made a vision board or thought, yeah, right. So the power of that is when you make it and you see all those images and words. It makes you feel a certain thing, makes you feel excited, it makes you feel motivated. And not that creating a vision board is literally the answer to all your problems. I wish it was, but it's a good start. But creating something like I'm a massive fan of visualization and using vision boards and images to start to change your behavior, because we have something in the brain called the reticular activating system. I won't go all into the neuroscience, but essentially it's like a filtering system. So every day you wake up, there's so much to take in. It's like a filtering system and what you feed it is what it searches for. So, like you know, when you want a new car, and like you're like I'm going to buy I don't know a blue Corsa and you've never seen them on the road, and then suddenly you see them everywhere. That's what your brain, your brain, is. You've primed your brain to look for what it is that you want.

Speaker 3: 9:13

So, when it comes to money, you can create a vision, whether it's a vision board or just. Is it that you want to buy property? Is that you want to travel loads? Is that you want to have a big family and live on a farm with ducks? I don't know. Whatever you want, but visualizing yourself and creating the feeling within you is going to help you align your behavior with your goals. And I always say like creating a set of goals but also understanding what your financial values are. So then you can spend and save in alignment with the goals and the values. So anytime you go to spend or any time you go to do something with your money, you can say does this align with my goals, does this align with my values and how is it making me feel? Because a lot of the time we just do everything on autopilot, like a lot of our purchases and behaviors are just because we've done them for so many years.

Speaker 2: 10:05

It's just bringing awareness to it and like what I call practicing mindful spending is there a healthy balance between not having to sacrifice a lot of the nice things that you like and achieving your financial goal, and this can be a question for both of you? Is there a balance, or do we have to sacrifice a lot of the maybe nice dinners, you know, bags?

Speaker 3: 10:28

this is a question I actually get asked a lot. So people always like I don't want to focus too much on saving because then I can't enjoy my money. And I think it's less about balance and it being like this perfect we're saving just as much as we're spending and it's acknowledging that at different points in your life you might have to save more and spend a little bit less, and it's acknowledging that at different points in your life you might have to save more and spend a little bit less. And it's less about viewing it as like a sacrifice and more about being intentional and going for the short term. I will rein it in on this area because my goal is so powerful, yeah, but then it can also go the other way.

Speaker 3: 10:59

It's okay to save a little bit less if you've just smashed a goal and you're like I deserve to enjoy my money for a bit because I think it's so easy to go to extremes. You're either a saver or you're a spender, because humans love to label themselves, yeah. So I think it's less about balance and more just acknowledging at different points in your life it's going to look a little bit different and having intention behind how you behave. That's what I would say, kevin what's your?

Speaker 4: 11:22

answer yeah, it's something I get as well like all the time, because people hear budget and things like that and they automatically that it has a negative connotation. They automatically think they're going to be like skimping on things and just not paying for what they want and just hating life. But, to be honest, having those like financial habits in place actually enables you to do the spending that you kind of want to spend on and like for me and I see it all the time like for me, if I post something like I'm having like a luxury day or like shopping somewhere fancy, and people will pop up to me saying, oh, aren't you the finance? Guy? Like, why are you shopping in Selfridges? Guy, like, why are you shopping in Selfridges?

Speaker 4: 12:06

And it's like because I've actually put those habits in place and planned to spend on the things that actually matter to me, it doesn't really work out the same way. So again, it comes down to actually planning it. If you've, or if you've budgeted to have a certain amount of money towards the things that you want to do the luxuries, the holidays then you don't need to like feel guilty about them and it comes back to the mindset side of things as well, like if you're, if you spend all your money and then at the end of the month you have a small bit left over and you just end up buying it on something that you you kind of want, versus you planned ahead and bought the things that you wanted and then you invested the rest of the money that was left over.

Speaker 3: 12:47

It's a totally different thing, but it can go either way yeah, and can I just quickly add to that because, as you were talking, it reminded me of? There's this phrase where it's like you can have anything you want, but you can't have everything that you want, and it's like delaying some gratification because I spend so much money on food I'm not gonna lie, I do, but I don't spend as much money on like convenience. So I would forego getting like an uber or like a uh whatever. The other one is a taxi so that I could go for a nice dinner, because to me, I value this more and I would rather have that, but it'd take me longer to get there and it's a matter of like priorities. This is more important to me. So, like, how can I make that work so you don't have to give up the things that you love? It's just being more intentional and being aware of when you do it. Yeah, okay, I totally get you.

Speaker 2: 13:36

Um, I think I really want to delve into, obviously, society's day we're in, you know, increasing prices and inflation and it can sometimes get really difficult to stay positive. Like you go to the shop I think I was in the shop the other day and I think, like body cream was like eight pounds or you know something crazy like that and I'm like for body cream, like really, and it does get hard to stay positive in times like this around reaching financial goals. How do we stay in that positive mindset in a time like this? Either of you can. I'm gonna come, come to both of you um.

Speaker 4: 14:23

So again, I think it's breaking things down into smaller doses or points. So if you're looking at the higher, bigger picture of oh I can't afford this right now, I can't afford that you're going to be a bit depressed because you're not getting the things that you want, whereas when you break your goals and the things that you want to achieve in life into smaller segments and then plan them into like the quarters and months that are ahead, you're going to be achieving things every, all the time. So even if things are dark and cost of living is bad, you still get wins along the way. That kind of keep keep you a bit more positive. And again, it does come down to the visualizing as well, because, um, laura already touched on this, but if you are visualizing yourself in a place that you want to be and you're, so you're already kind of there. It's your reality then you know you're not going to be upset about things that are not necessarily a part of your reality. So I think that makes sense yeah.

Speaker 3: 15:21

So I would say there's kind of like three things that I usually talk about. If you're feeling like stress especially in times like now because it's everywhere, like you read news inflation you're like I can't hear that word anymore. Um, so first thing is I would say, try and find joy outside of spending money. It's when we spend money we get like there's so many hormonal, like chemical things going on in our brain, so like dopamine release, adrenaline rush. If you have low serotonin, it can be harder to make good financial decisions. So, really finding the things that bring you joy outside of spending money and like it sounds so basic, but being like going for a walk with a friend, having a bath, doing crafts, but actually it's really important because otherwise you end up connecting your joy to spending money so that, um, validate yourself, like it's okay to be like sad about it or overwhelmed, like I think there's such a big movement of toxic positivity, and being like just get over it, we'll be fine.

Speaker 3: 16:16

I mean like it's fine and you're like let me be sad a minute, so like it's okay to be sad but don't catastrophize yeah, so really understanding what is it that's stressing me out, because I work with a lot of one-to-one clients and they'll be really overwhelmed by money and when we sit down and look what's going on, they're actually okay financially.

Speaker 3: 16:34

It's just that they've got to make some shifts and our brains tell us stories that make us think it's actually worse than what it is.

Speaker 3: 16:40

And then I guess, on a practical point of view, once you understand why you feel the way you feel you can make a bit of a plan and, like I always talk about having a bit of a fun fund, so like a little pot of money from your monthly spending plan that allows you to go spend it however you want like no judgments yourself, because what happens otherwise is you want to do that every single time, whereas if you have a chunk of money, that's like this is for me to spend on whatever like one month I spent, I put 50 pounds aside and I literally spent it all on pens, because I found a pen that I love and normally I wouldn't do that. But I was like right, this is my fun, fun for the month. Yeah, I sound not like a very fun person, but I promise. But having a fun fund and like giving that money a purpose and that allows you to, um, feel a little bit less stressed about kind of what's going on, is what I would say also just one more thing.

Speaker 4: 17:27

So I think we're talking loads about mindset and like. Sometimes you do just have to shift it a little bit because you could get down about all cost of living. Everything's really expensive, but if you look at the longer picture, generally it's these economically tough times where millionaires are made and people actually get rich by investing. So, yes, everything is costing a lot more, but a lot of the time investments and things like that are actually starting to cost a bit less or will in the near future, and you should see that as an opportunity to put money into your future self and make sure that that person is going to be happy, even if current you is suffering a little bit with cost of things.

Speaker 2: 18:06

Now, is there any key strategies you have in terms of making sure you're set up financially for the future, so any specific tools people could use to make sure they're budgeting in the right way?

Speaker 4: 18:19

Yeah, so I actually have like a free bundle that I give to people which is for that purpose. So there's like a budget tracker, an investment tracker, credit score improvement guide and just like investing foundations ebook. So the budget tracker and investment tracker like, you hear the word tracker and budgeting and again everyone is just like, oh, but the way that I do it is at the end of the month I have almost like a financial health check or update and just 20 minutes to an hour re-update, like check my budget and make sure that it wasn't going crazy for the month, but also make sure that, like, I utilize my disposable income correctly, um, check all my investments and things, just make sure. But, like, the key is that I'm not doing it all the time throughout the month and making it painful for myself. I just do it once at the end of the month, little check, and then you know you're on track for where you want to be.

Speaker 4: 19:15

And also in terms of like strategies, I think there's loads of ways to like reduce spending and actually like, um, save money over the long term without like making it too painful for yourself.

Speaker 4: 19:29

So things like coopert um, it's just a, an app that you can install on your browser that just like checks for discount codes and stuff like that, and also gives you cash back on all your purchases, takes two seconds and then you're like always kind of saving whenever you do online shopping. Um, automate your spending is a big one. So at the start of the month, if you, if you're someone and I get this a lot that you're like I don't know where my money goes every month I'm always like short on funds see, I could make 10k but I can spend 11k, kind of thing then just automate it at the beginning of the month so that your money is going into the stuff that you wanted to go into long term and then at the end of the month, it's not going to be there for you to spend recklessly on the stuff that you don't really care about. Basically, I think that's a few strategies I use, anyway thank you.

Speaker 3: 20:20

Yeah, I just want to add to that Like I talk about you kind of touched on it, but I talk about a lot on Instagram about having a money date and I say, like you should treat your money like a partner, like if you didn't give it any time, you ignored it, you were like I kind of hate them, like they're not going to be around, whereas if you're like giving it quality time, whereas if you're like giving it quality time, you've put date night in the calendar and you go this allotted time is for me to sit down with my money. It's not going to talk back, but you can talk to it and create a plan that feels good for you. That is one of the best ways you can start to improve your relationship with money, because you trust that you have an overview of it and you're like you're the one driving your financial car, not the money, because money makes a great servant but it's not a very good master. So if you leave money in charge game over, it's going to be like woo party, so like giving yourself time to spend with it and then you can actually make choices from what you see. Now, if you don't like what you see, obviously that's very frustrating, but that allows you to put things in place and you can use that frustration or upset to drive your behavior.

Speaker 3: 21:26

And, yeah, I think, utilizing tools there's so many cool tools out there that you can just like align. And the last one I would say is on the emotional side is journaling. I love journaling, whether it's on like written down, or whether it's on your phone, asking yourself questions every single month, not just have I overspent, have I underspent, but like why? What emotional triggers happened? Was it that day I had a really bad day and I was so stressed and I went and bought an air fryer and it cost me 200 pounds and that was never the plan. Like figuring out what it was that triggered you emotionally to overspend, because that's just data.

Speaker 2: 22:01

So doing that once a month, once a week, when you get paid, can be really, really helpful yeah, I remember when, um, some time ago now and me and my friend was talking about money and he was like, when you get paid every month, do you pay yourself? And I was like, oh no, I pay my bills, that's what I pay. He was like, but do you pay yourself? Because sometimes we forget to kind of have that relationship and pay ourselves from you know what we've done for that month and we'll just concentrate on paying bills and looking after the family and stuff like that and we forget us like we need to invest in ourselves, whether we put that little £100 or £200 in investments, stock shares, whatever it is, but don't forget to pay yourself. And that changed my total mindset of how I see my pay every month. So I totally agree with you on that point.

Speaker 2: 22:51

Um, I, just before we go to the Q&A because I've seen quite a few questions come in just wanted to do one more which I think is really important. So, debt how can we best make sure that we are doing paying down our debts and making sure we're on that path to financial freedom?

Speaker 3: 23:10

um. So I would say like, when it comes to debt a lot of the time because there's so much shame in the UK around money and debt it keeps you quiet, so you have a little bit and then it's like, well, I'm already kind of in it, so I just use the credit card, and it's that kind of spiraling where it just feels easy and like you can kind of just ignore it. But the key thing and this is hard to do but it's so important it's just being honest with yourself. Like you can go months and months and then there's usually like a catalystic moment where you're like I am done with myself. But the sooner that you can catch yourself in that moment and go right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna self-care myself, self-love myself into making a plan. Even if it takes me 10 years, that's how long it's going to take to clear it.

Speaker 3: 23:52

I would rather have a plan I know I'm working towards slowly and I'm going to be debt free or financially free by this point then turning a blind eye, sticking your head in the sand and thinking it's going to solve the problem itself. It's just reminding yourself like no one is coming to save you. You have to do it yourself, and the empowerment that you feel Like. If I've ever worked with one-to-one clients and they've got loads of debt and they're so ashamed and they feel really overwhelmed when we sit down and we make a plan, nothing has changed they when we sit down and we make a plan, nothing has changed. They haven't cleared anything and yet they feel so much better. So I would say the key thing is, regardless of how long it takes or how much you're paying towards it, make a clear plan that works for you.

Speaker 2: 24:29

Thank you and Kevin, what's yours?

Speaker 4: 24:31

Yeah. So, like you said, about being honest with yourself, I think if it comes to debts, awareness is the first thing. To be honest, like I've dealt with people where they might have popped up to me posting about some fancy investment or some crazy returns for the year and then I speak to them and it turns out you know they've got like 50 60k worth of this. Like you need to focus on that initially and then you can kind of start to look at the returns, because it's always easy to get distracted by the fancy stuff and you know flashy people making money from like cryptocurrency and stuff like that but the reality is the debt that you have is probably going to be costing you more in the short term and long term. So it's about having that awareness of OK, the first step really for 90 percent of people who have debt is to pay it down first, and then you can start to worry about the fun stuff and the financial freedom. Basically, also, there is loads of things out there that can actually help you.

Speaker 4: 25:31

Like I've had people message me and say, like I'm in this, please don't tell anyone like I'm in this desperate situation.

Speaker 4: 25:37

It's a case of like I genuinely don't feel like anyone you know is going to like, look, look worse on you for being in that situation and also, it's incredibly easy to get into debt like even if even if you're debt-free right now, still, I'd focus on the awareness of it, because I've had clients again who are 50 years old, go through a messy divorce and suddenly their life goes from being pretty perfect to being like dreadful and worrying about money all the time.

Speaker 4: 26:05

So it's even if you're not in debt, I'd still look at your financial health, look at your credit spending things like that and, as laura said, make a plan to get out of. It is key. If you are in a situation right now where you have a lot of credit card debt, one thing I'd say straight away is look into maybe balance transfers, so it's more of a putting things aside for the next year. We can always get a credit card that you can switch over all your credit card debt to, and it will cost you at least 0% in interest for the year then, and then you can worry about coming up with that plan to actually get rid of it in that time.

Speaker 2: 26:42

Basically, yeah, thank you both for that. That was really insightful to hear. I'm gonna go to the q a questions now. I know a few of you have sent some questions in which, from the looks of it, are really good questions, so I'm gonna come to Laura first, because there is a couple of questions around mindset. So the first question I'm going to ask you is any recommendations from going from a scarcity mindset to an abundant mindset relating to money.

Speaker 3: 27:15

So the first thing I would say is I read an amazing book called Mindset by Carol Dweck, and it's about the difference between having a growth and a fixed mindset, and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend. And building an abundance mindset. Apart from needing to regulate your nervous system, it's about the belief that there is enough out there for everybody, and that just comes with finding little bits of evidence for that. So, looking for places of abundance in your life right now and it doesn't have to be about money, it can be about an abundance of love, it can be about abundance of you know anything. Looking for those little moments. It doesn't have to.

Speaker 3: 27:54

If you have a scarcity mindset and you're feeling really broke right now or maybe you've been in debt, or you're in debt suddenly thinking, oh my God, there's just so much money around and it's just going to come to me. It's not going to align emotionally, so start. It's like trying to go up the stairs a little bit. So, if you're here right now, just look for little places where okay, maybe here's where I've been good with money, or here's where something's happened that's made me feel abundant feeling. It's not a physical thing, it's a feeling.

Speaker 3: 28:20

So the key thing is literally reminding yourself on a daily basis to look for those examples, and that taps into the reticular activating system that I was talking about. The more you say it to yourself and at first it feels hard. And I know we said earlier like, if you, if you look in the mirror and you're like I'm so rich, I'm a millionaire, your brain is going to be like babes, you've got 10 pounds in your bank. You're not so being like saying phrases like I'm learning how to be better with money, or I'm managing my money well, like really like things that you can get on board with and then build it up slowly over time. Don't expect to just all happen at once amazing.

Speaker 2: 28:53

Thank you, kevin. I've got one for you here. How would you manage budgeting and spending if you're keen on reinvesting a lot of your income? It's a good question actually.

Speaker 4: 29:08

I saw you go like that, like, oh, we're gonna have to dig deep for this it's because I do get that quite a lot, especially like people that come to me and they're like starting a business or, um, trying to like invest for the future as well.

Speaker 4: 29:22

It's it's difficult because a lot of the time to get a your business going successfully, depending on the area it's in, you do have to actually end up investing a lot of your money into it, and so it can be challenging to balance spending, and that, again, I think it's literally a case of how like it can be.

Speaker 4: 29:43

It's a little bit painful, but having a budget for your business and also for yourself, one thing I'd say is, even though at times it'll be tempting to just funnel all your money into the business in the hopes of eventually becoming, like, cash flow positive and successful, you should still try and pay yourself at least a certain amount every month.

Speaker 4: 30:06

So we are like I personally got in the habit for a while of putting money into my business and just letting it build, all my money build up in my business account and not actually paying myself. But you have a tax-free allowance. It's more than likely, uh beneficial to you to even at least just pay yourself that minimum every month and you know you can work your personal budget around that then and your business your business isn't going to suffer, because at the end of the year you want to have ideally as little profit technically in your business as possible so that you're not going to pay a whole bunch of tax on that. So it's just working out based off your own personal allowances and what makes sense to actually pay yourself and kind of making a budget around that then basically, hopefully that answers the question thank you.

Speaker 2: 30:57

Um earlier you, laura, you spoke about financial values. Can you give us some examples of what those are?

Speaker 3: 31:04

because it's my favorite thing to talk about. Um. So my financial values are travel, education and health. So when it comes to spending my money, I like to spend money on flights to Barcelona, or you know, it's something to do with traveling. Education is things like books, courses, anything where I'm bettering myself, and health. So I would maybe spend money on, like a health coach or supplements or something for my health like the gym. They're my three top.

Speaker 3: 31:32

I usually recommend three. I could go to 10, but then you're just listing things you like to spend money on in general. But having three is a nice place to start and the key thing is it helps you see money as a tool, because otherwise we fall into this habit of assuming that every time we're working and making money it has to just be for a future goal. But if you're saving for a future goal, that money is going to get spent at some point. It's just that you're holding onto it for a bit longer. So if you know what you enjoy spending money on and what you can utilize money for, it helps you have a better relationship with it, because I usually say like money in itself isn't inherently good or bad, it's just the emotion that we, as humans, choose to attach to it. So why wouldn't we choose to say, wow, money's amazing, like it can do really cool things.

Speaker 3: 32:20

And my moment of that I was like 19 and I saved 15 grand because I was going to go to drama school and at the very last minute, drop of a high, I ended up going and I made that decision because, without really realizing, traveling was one of my values, and I had that moment where I was like money's really cool, like it's given me options, it's given me freedom, it's given me this experience. So what is it that you would like money to do for you? And it's going to look different for all of you. Some of you it'll be security, some of you it'll be freedom, some of it will be convenience, like you want to spend money on trains and somebody doing your washing, and there is no right or wrong, it's just knowing what you want for it. So, yeah, just asking yourself what are my? How do I like to what? How would I like to enjoy my money?

Speaker 2: 33:00

and then creating two or three top values can really help and just to piggy off of that, another question that came through was the right language to use when you're speaking about money, whether it's to yourself, whether it's to other people, and I think that kind of plays into the whole feeling with money and the connection you have with money. So what kind of language should we be using?

Speaker 3: 33:22

So what I would say is that the acknowledgement part is listening to how you talk to yourself or how you talk to your friends or your partner. I think, on a whole, we can usually address whether the language is negative or whether it's positive. You know, things like joy, happy, excited, security versus broke, poor, stressed, anxious, like there's kind of those two categories and it's how it makes you feel. So if you're saying something and as you're saying it, to caveat that, I know that it's a classic thing that when you go to university, especially as a student, it's like who's the poorest, who's got the least amount of money? Who's like, oh, I've only got a fiver, well, I've only got this, and that can carry on into adult life.

Speaker 3: 34:04

But just being really honest with yourself and be like language I'm using is this going to be the language that gets me to where I want to be financially? And there might be some blocks around this feeling of whether you think you can do it. But that's part of the work to do so, just finding words that you and you know that make you feel good and then starting to mix that into how you talk about money. Um, but you don't have to go from negative to positive. You can start out neutral, like money's all right, it's not bad, but it's all right, thank you for that.

Speaker 2: 34:34

Um, kevin, we've got a lot of questions about investing, okay, so I just want to kind of ask you a main one what's the first step? What would you say? The first step to invest in money is okay, um.

Speaker 4: 34:47

So to be honest, like the investing side of things is my main background, so I worked in an investment bank for like six years in wealth management and it's the thing that people come to me for. But unfortunately the answer isn't as exciting as it should be, because the first step is sorting out the basics of your financial situation. If you have like a few hundred quid spare at the end of the month but you don't know like where that's usually going or coming from, then you're probably just going to see oh, cryptocurrency is doing amazing. This week my friend made five grand in like five minutes and you're going to just put money into that. That's like the worst way to start investing, basically Having it planned out and thinking again from goals down to tasks and aims.

Speaker 4: 35:36

So I want property in the future. I want that to be a property portfolio. Then that'll drive what you do now. So if you have 100 quid aside every month, you might think, okay, do I want it to be a property that I live in or do I want it to generate me money? If it's a property that you want to live in, then you probably would go for like a lifetime ISA if if you want to have it making money for you and have it be like a career, then a lifetime ISA doesn't make any sense. You could fall back on it with a pension, but that's besides the point. So you can see how having that vision of what you actually want it will influence your initial investing journey. So my parents are Irish Investing to them. When I started doing this, especially on my own, for my own business, they were like you had a good nine to five.

Speaker 2: 36:29

What are?

Speaker 4: 36:29

you doing my own business. They were like you had a good nine to five. What are you? What are you doing? You know, but now they've come to a point where, like my dad, has invested and bought like a racehorse because that's like his passion, you know.

Speaker 4: 36:39

So, for most people, what I would say is figure out what it is you want in the future. If there's something that logically makes sense to get there, then fair enough. If not, then look at what you're actually passionate about. I know people that invest in art because that's something they know a lot about, and people that invest in whiskey especially irish people because they just know about it and then and also it's a fallback, you know, you can always drink it if it goes badly.

Speaker 4: 37:06

Um, but yeah, identifying what you're passionate about and trying to invest in things that make sense for you, because if you understand something at a high level, then you're going to have an edge over people that are just investing in it because they want to invest. Basically, if you, if you don't want to go all that route or you're not passionate about anything, then you can always start with a stocks and shares isa. It's the most tax efficient way of investing and I guarantee you, if any one of you now starts putting 100 quid a month into stocks and shares ISA just an index fund and continues that for the next 30 years, you will be a millionaire. If you don't take some sort of action right now, then you're probably just going to be looking 30 years down the line and thinking why didn't I make that investment.

Speaker 3: 37:51

Can I really quickly add to that? I won't be long because I know we're wrapping up To all the women here. I know that investing feels like it can really feel like a man's world, because for so long women have been left out of the conversation around investing and there is a language to invest in. So sometimes when you hear or read investing books or articles, it's like I still don't understand. Education is the key thing to help build your confidence with it, and all the women in here like investing is for you as well. It's not just for the men. So, yeah, if there's something you take away, it's like to go and learn about it. Whether it's like consuming all the knowledge, reading all the books, listening to all the podcasts, it's better to spend that time educating yourself and build in the trust that investing is for you. Yeah, because it's not just for the men. Just wanted to say that thank you.

Speaker 2: 38:36

That was really important to say. Thank you so much. We are wrapping up this amazing panel. Before we leave, I want you both to just give one thing that you want to leave the audience with today and where they can find you for any more information or reach you. So if you want to go first, okay, um, one thing.

Speaker 4: 38:56

Um, I suppose just to touch off what laura just said there, if again, if you don't have a clue where to start, look to people that do, I suppose. Um, I'll always answer people's questions.

Speaker 4: 39:07

Even if it's like a free 20 minute conversation, I'll do like a free financial strategy consultation with anyone here at any point, something I always exactly so, something I always offer anyway, because, even if I can't, if, even if you can't pay me, I'll come away feeling I helped you at least, um, and more more than likely you'll get enough value out of it so that you'll actually come back to me in five, ten years or even like next year with some money and you're like I want to invest this now, so it's win-win for everyone. Um, I also have a bunch of free resources and stuff. If you're unsure how to just start with anything, um, so yeah, I suppose just start on getting that foundation level of understanding. If you haven't started already, and if you have started and you're successfully investing right now, then chat to me as well, because I'll help you bring that little level up.

Speaker 3: 40:01

Basically, thank you, kevin and Laura um, one thing I would say is that investing is the really sexy thing and it's the thing that helps you build wealth and is so important. But do not try to run before you can walk. So your money mindset is your foundation to your financial success. In my opinion. Starting there and trusting it's a process and even if you're setting yourself goals not to, maybe because you're not ready yet to like invest 100 pounds a month, even though it'd be great to get there start with like setting yourself goals around education and improving your relationship with money um, and that's only going to kind of like set you up for success in the future because you could do all the practical things. But if your mindset's not in the right place, then it's all going to fall to shit. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but yeah, if you want to follow me, I've got a bunch of freebies, I've got a podcast. So my Instagram is at laura__ann__more and my podcast is Mind Money Soul.

Speaker 2: 41:00

Thank you so much. Both Can we have a round of applause for our great panellists?

Speaker 1: 41:04

tonight. Thank you so much for listening, guys. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you ever want to come down to one of our events in person, they're usually held in London. However, we are looking to expand that across the UK, so make sure that you are following the Penny to Pound socials and you are signed up to our weekly newsletter. That is where we will put first dibs for any tickets for any of our events. So make sure you are on the socials and subscribe to our newsletter, but with